(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for variable shock absorption, and more particularly to an apparatus for variable shock absorption that changes the amount of shock absorption with the degree of extension of an elastic member to attenuate instantaneous force applied to a robot using wires.
(b) Background Art
Robots, which are operated based on an operation by workers or predetermined control logics, are used in various industrial fields for work which humans cannot do or of which the efficiency is increased by using robots. There are various robots, including robots that lift up heavy objects while moving on rails disposed along the work lines. However, these types of robots are substantially heavy and large in size, and are thus inconvenient for being operated by a human.
Accordingly, recently, wearable robots that enable workers wearing the robot to lift and move substantially heavy objects without difficulty when they lift and assemble the objects, by assisting the workers to move, have been developed. The wearable robots include a plurality of driving motors operated in accordance with movement or operation of workers, but the driving motors provided for all joints increase the weight of the wearable robots. Accordingly, a plurality of wires are used for operating the joints to minimize the number of the driving motors and to move the joints by a minimal number of driving motors.
A proposed structure of the related art includes a base, a plurality of fingers coupled to the base, a driving unit that drives the fingers, and wires that transmit force to the fingers. However, even by the related art, it may be difficult to prevent high pressure from being instantaneously applied to the wires by rotation of the drive motors that instantaneously operate. Accordingly, shock may be applied to the joints of the robot by shock applied to the wires due to substantially high loads instantaneously applied to the wires or instantaneous movement of the joints connected with the wires.
The description provided above as a related art of the present invention is merely for helping understanding the background of the present invention and should not be construed as being included in the related art known by those skilled in the art.